Budget session from 21 February

The budget session will have a month-long break from 22 March and will conclude on 10 May. Photo: Hindustan Times

Updated: Thu, Feb 14 2013. 04 15 PM IST

New Delhi: The Union budget will be presented in the Lok Sabha on 28 February, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) decided on Friday.

The budget session will be convened on 21 February and the Railway budget will be presented on 26 February, followed by the tabling of the Economic Survey on the next day.

The session will have a month-long break from 22 March and will conclude on 10 May. President Pranab Mukherjee will have to give his consent for the timing and duration of the crucial session before a formal notification.

Separately, finance minister P. Chidambaram assured financial sector regulators on Thursday that the government was committed to following the path of fiscal consolidation in the forthcoming budget for 2013-14. It will impose fiscal targets and policies to take the economy back to the path of higher growth, he said.

During the meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), Chidambaram also informed members about his discussions with foreign investors to “encourage foreign flows into India and offer reassurance on the positive investment climate” during his road shows in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Frankfurt last month.

The meeting, which was held as a pre-budget consultation exercise with financial regulators, was attended by the chiefs of the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, apart from finance ministry officials. A finance ministry statement said the regulators also presented their suggestions regarding the forthcoming budget, which will be examined and further processed by related departments.